expressions or acceding to all its views, we are constrained to admit, that it is a production which would, in many respects, do honour to a manly intellect, and cannot but contribute to the culture of that "most excellent thing in woman," "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price."

The book is written in the epistolary form, containing twelve letters, the first of which treats of the necessity of prayer to the right performance of our duties; and the second points out Home, as the true sphere of woman. Decision of character with regard to religion is the subject of the third; and miscellaneous topics of much interest and usefulness are considered in the remainder, among which it may suffice to specify, "Family Prayer, Sabbath Employments, Choice and Management of Servants, Household Arrangements and Economy, General Employment of Time," &c., &c. We should have no difficulty in selecting passages from any one of these, which would be amply sufficient to vindicate our favourable opinion of the work, in proof of which we will give an extract from that on "Household Arrangements and Economy," a title certainly the least attractive to a general reader, and, it would appear, most repulsive to a studious and meditative critic. Yet these are the terms in which the authoress declares her estimate of woman, as well as the object with which she writes:

"It is here that the silent, gentle influence of woman is so peculiarly valuable. Foreigners have said that women are queens in England. The title given, perhaps, partly in scorn, we would not, in answering scorn, altogether reject. The higher the scale of civilization is among the people of a land, the more clearly the position of woman is understood, and the more highly is her weight in society appreciated. Let her be the queen of the domestic circle, not to lord over man, but to minister to his comforts, to smooth the cares of life, to attend to those minutiæ for which his loftier mind and more unbending frame are unfitted. Her influence may be as oil cast on the waters, smoothing down the billows, till the troubled ocean of life changes within her immediate sphere of action, into a sweet and holy calm, reflecting back the blue face of the unclouded heavens; or to change the metaphor, it may be as oil applied to a machine, enabling all parts to work easily and harmoniously, well-directed towards a rightly chosen end. Domestic bliss has been styled a 'flower of Paradise ;'

"The only flower that hath survived the fall."

It is the sweet employment of the female hand to watch this fair and delicate flower, to nourish it, to guard it from the rude blasts of the world, and to raise it to as fair and stately a growth as the ungenial soil of this cold earth will permit.

"We are not then afraid to repeat-unfashionable as the words may sound -all things belonging to a house ought to claim the attention of the female mind: one wheel neglected, and suffered to remain inert, may interfere with the action of the whole machine. Men are destined for various professions and employments, and their training varies accordingly: the sphere of woman is fixed, and every female, be her acquirements and accomplishments never so varied and numerous, may be pronounced to be uneducated, if the common affairs of domestic life, in other words, the details of common housekeeping, have not received a due share of her attention.”—(pp. 106, 107.)

The only alteration which we should be inclined to propose in this exquisite passage is one which will, we are sure, meet with the approbation of the writer. For "civilization" we would read "Christianity." This is, however, little more than substituting cause for effect, though it is a cause which too often operates indirectly. But even the outward profession of the religion of the gospel has a tendency to purify all around. In this sense, it is the "salt of the earth." And if so, how much more must the domestic practice which is accordant with that profession be the "light" of the home-a light that imparteth its useful and holy brightness to all that are in the house. The authoress speaks to the fair object of her maternal solicitude respecting the duties of her own house, "because," she says, "I desire for you not a public career of false and deceptive brilliancy, but a private one of meek and quiet usefulness; a happy, and humble, and holy walking with your God. In your own house I would call on you to seek with all your might and energy to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour, by promoting the happiness of those whom God has caused to dwell with you in the same family. The true model for a female is to be found, not in the idle pictures of romancers, not in the cold theories of moral philosophers, not in the sentimental ravings of novelists, but in the glorious gospel of Immanuel, and perhaps (abstracting earthly solicitude and anxiety about temporal affairs,) in the blended characters of the Sisters of Bethany."

We think that the best recommendation of the work will be found in this, its professed object. We will, however, confirm our recommendation by two or three striking passages, which will prove not only that the authoress, like many of the literary sisterhood, is actuated by the best motives, but that she possesses, (which can be affirmed of very few), the power of doing justice to them by sweetness, variety, and accuracy of expression. Here are a few of "the words fitly spoken, which are like apples of gold set in pictures of silver."

On decision of character:

"When you see a thing to be wrong, or inconsistent with your principles, assign your real reason for declining to act in it. For instance: if you are staying in a house where a party is going to the theatre, do not give as your reason for not accompanying them, that you have a head-ache, or do not feel well, or have a letter to write, or have other occupation, though any one of these motives might with truth be assigned, but state at once, firmly and gently, your disapproval of theatrical amusements. This saves a great deal of trouble. And rely upon it, you may be openly sneered at, but you will be secretly respected; while on the contrary, professing Christians, who make concessions contrary to their principles, though they are openly applauded by their worldly companions, are secretly despised. Firmness is perfectly consistent with gentleness; and it may be remarked, en passant, that softness and gentleness are by no means all that is required in a Christian. Many

persons talk of sweetness until we are tempted to think that this undefined, and rather undefinable property, is the sum total of the Christian character. Firmness, energy, constancy-nay, occasionally boldness in the cause of Christ, all enter into the picture, though we willingly acknowledge that gentleness is the subduing tint, which casts its mellowing influence over these strongly-marked features. As soon might we gaze on the soft and somewhat sleepy expression of Raphael's Madonnas, and then pronounce that this expression was all that the illustrious painter aimed at, and all that he achieved, as estimate the Christian character by one solitary grace-solitary, though linked in, as all the graces of the Christian character must be, with others.' (pp. 34-36.)

On Sabbath employments:

"I would not encumber you, my dear young friend, with negative precepts, no, nor with positive precepts either. The machinery may all be there, but not a spring to set it in motion, no power to give impetus to its movements. The aqueducts may be laid, and the channels dug for irrigating the land, but the water of life may never flow along in its vivifying power. Where there is no thirst for the river of the water of life, there can be no sabbath. Much of Christian life consists in desire. As the heart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.'-And observe the expression after thee. The Christian cannot repose in creature-enjoyments—he desires to draw his happiness from God Himself. The sublime prayer of Augustine, 'Lord! give me thyself,' is the language of the Christian's innermost heart. The promise to the father of the faithful, is a precious stay to his soul-'I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward. The glowing words of his beloved Lord, 'I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also," are engraved as with a sunbeam on the innermost recesses of his heart. Now, it is this looking unto the Lord, this earnest seeking after the kingdom of God and his righteousness, this breaking of the soul, for the longing that it has unto his commandments,' this hungering and thirsting after righteousness, this grateful receiving of untold blessings, desiring the more, the more we receive (on the same principle as the traveller on ascending a lofty hill, sees the view opening wider before him every step he advances,) it is this which constitutes the peculiar characteristic of the Christian's sabbath. The longing which he has for the highest enjoyment which God can give, and which a created being can receive, union with Deity itself, leads him to economize time, and in particular, to devote the fresh dewy morning hours, to the sweet invigorating work of prayer and praise. Well does he know that when the sun is up, the manna cannot be gathered, and his soul may thus be starved for an entire day?"-(pp. 71–73.)

The evils of superficial education:

In

"The great philosopher of Athens was praised as having brought philosophy down from the clouds, and constrained her to dwell with men. like manner, religion must not be looked upon as a thing that is up in heaven, and has no connexion with this dim spot which men call earth.' Young ladies are apt to look upon the duties of life as something distant and indistinct; but the fact is, that every one has a work to do, and the business of youth is to prepare for that work. It is but common prospective policy to make the future occupations of mature years blend closely into the occupations of the preparatory state of existence, so that when the individual enters upon those occupations, he may, like the well-trained soldier, find them nothing more than what he had been accustomed to expect. In female education, the exact contrary of this is the case. In the knowledge of all that really constitutes the business of life, our fashionably-educated ladies are deplorably deficient. They seem to be educated for dolls, for vocal or

musical instruments, for drawing machines, for any purpose, in fact, rather than that of discharging the ordinary duties devolving on the female sex. It seems to be the study of the majority of persons engaged in what is called education, to discover what is least likely to be useful in the wide field of intellectual acquirements, in order to impose it on the rising generation. We do not exclaim against elegant accomplishments; we only remonstrate, and we would remonstrate strongly, against making those things the whole, which ought only to be parts of a minor purt."-(pp. 226, 227.)

The conclusion:

"My earnest desire for you is, that you may be a true Christian. Look then to Jesus. Pray constantly for his Spirit. Take the Bible as your directory on all occasions. Cling to the Cross of Christ. Pray, strive, fight against sin, the world, and the devil. Live near to God as your reconciled Father in Christ Jesus, so shall your heaven be begun on earth, and so finally shall you be more than conqueror through him that hath loved you.

"I close my letters, pointing you to the place where I desire for you that you may live and die,-the cross of your crucified and glorified Master."(p. 230.)

Of the "Hints on Reading," also in letters, most of which were published originally in the "Christian Lady's Magazine," we shall only say, that they are designed and adapted to make intellectual culture subsidiary to the performance of Every-day Duties; and if, to apply a phrase of the authoress herself, "they seem to make the stocking somewhat blue, they will also make the petticoat long enough to cover it." Here, however, as before, the writer shall explain her own principle-and, which is the same thing, recommend her own work :

"There may seem little connexion between the subject of Christian exertion and Hints on Reading;' there is a most close and intimate one. Reading is mere waste of most precious time, if it is not a means to an end. The reason for urging mental cultivation at all is that it gives an increase of power to work for the Lord; but let that power be faithfully so employed. There are ignorant to be instructed, schools to be supported, societies to be pleaded for, benevolent plans to be carried into effect, and the subject and the book may alike be closed with the pointed and incontrovertible statement that England would present a very different aspect to what she does, if every one of her highly-favoured daughters made it her prayer and her effort to obtain the eulogium bestowed by our blessed Saviour upon one humble and holy Israelitish woman, 'She hath done what she could.””—(pp. 174, 175.)

We conclude by saying,-though after these extracts it can be scarcely needful,-that Christian parents, who desire that their daughters should "grow up as the polished corners of the temple" cannot act more wisely than in availing themselves of the instrumentality of these well-timed, well-principled, and well-executed publications.

INSTITUTES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. By J. L. VON MOSHEIM, D.D. New Edition, edited, with Additions, by HENRY SOAMES, M.A. In four vols. octavo. London: Longmans and others. 1841.

A LETTER TO THE REV. S. R. MAITLAND ON THE OPINIONS OF THE PAULICIANS. By JOHN GOULTER DOWLING, M.A., &c. London: Rivingtons.

THE recent edition of Mosheim, issued by the principal London booksellers, under the able superintendence of Mr. Soames, does them and him much credit. We are happy to hear that the bishop of London has, within the last few days, evinced his sense of Mr. Soames's services, in this and other contributions to ecclesiastical history, by appointing him to a prebendal stall in his own cathedral.

We perceive, in the history of the Paulicians, on which we have just now been consulting the work, but one addition of much importance, but that is a note expressed with great judgment and discretion. The latter sentences of it we shall copy.

"For the same reason we cannot place much confidence in the "Greeks who wrote their (the Paulicians') history; and we should always remember, that these writers were liable, from misapprehension, if not also from their party feelings, to mis-state "their doctrines. At the same time we discover, as to most of "their doctrines, that they had, in several respects, more correct "ideas of religion, of religious worship, and of Church-govern"" ment, than the prevailing Church at that day had; and that "they drew on themselves persecution by their dislike of images, " and by their opposition to the hierarchy, more than by their "other religious opinions." (vol. ii. pp. 255, 6.)

On the same subject, also, there is a valuable note, where perhaps few persons would expect to find it-at the end of Mr. Faber's last edition of his Primitive Doctrine of Justification.' Still, however, the chief writer of our day who has gone at any length into the question, is the late Mr. Dowling, in his tract, the title of which we have placed at the head of this article.

We have been considering, for some time past, in various points of view, the prospects and probable destiny of the Church of Christ in the middle ages, as we might find various hints and outlines in the prophecies of the Old and New Testament. We now purpose to advance, from prediction to fact; from discussing what seemed to be the purpose of God, so far as it had pleased Him to reveal